


All My Friends Are Heathens (Take It Slow)

by Nyxelestia



Series: Young Avengers: MCU [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Amazing Spider-Man (Movies - Webb), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Young Avengers (Comics)
Genre: Child Neglect, Discussion of Kidnapping, Discussion of Medical Abuse, Discussion of Medical Torture, Discussion of Racism, Discussion of Torture, Gen, Past Sexual Abuse, Past Sexual Assault, but honestly the biggest warning is tooth-rotting fluff, i'm saving all the angst for the next two or three fics in this universe, that's what this story basically is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-19
Updated: 2016-11-19
Packaged: 2018-09-01 06:11:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8612326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nyxelestia/pseuds/Nyxelestia
Summary: AKA Super SupperThe Young Avengers don't know what their future holds for them - but that's okay. They have their families, and they have each other. Together, they can face down anything the world tries to throw at them - just not on an empty stomach.This is half "sequel" to Children's Crusade, half "extremely extended epilogue".





	1. Kate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [paleogymnast](https://archiveofourown.org/users/paleogymnast/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Art for "Super Supper" by Nyxelestia](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8588614) by [paleogymnast](https://archiveofourown.org/users/paleogymnast/pseuds/paleogymnast). 



> As you can see, I had a very good reason for cutting out the kids reuniting with their families and saving it for another story. :P
> 
> My apologies for posting this so late. There were some problems in my professional life, and I was unable to get home long enough to format this story and post it by our deadline. ~~This is the last fucking time I try marvel_bang _and_ NaNoWriMo in an election year.~~
> 
> Emergency beta from Lady_Grayhat.

Kate was still grinning after annihilating her secret identity in front of a crowd of reporters. She grinned as she scanned the crowd of people taking pictures of her, as she ignored their questions, and as she moved to pick up her scarf and her black multi-glasses from the floor.

And as she felt a searing pain from her abdomen when she bent over to reach them.

Damn. She'd forgotten that she wasn't supposed to bend over, yet. The stitches on the gash from some HYDRA mook's pocket knife were still setting in.

She stood back up, anyway, with a smile on her face.

Remembering her goal – to get the public to love her, love the Young Avengers – she draped her scarf around her neck. She did a little half-twirl on the spot, giving her the chance to nudge down the zipper of her already-loose hoodie without anyone noticing. When she was facing the crowd again, she waved – in a way that would conveniently open up her hoodie a bit more and give them all a glancing but clear glimpse at all the bandages underneath.

That was about as far as she got before Captain America appeared at her side. With a big, fake smile on his face and polite reminders that the press conference was over, he draped an arm around Kate's shoulders and steered her back through the doorway, and into the prep room.

The door had barely snicked shut when Director Coulson was yelling, "What the _hell_ were you thinking?!"

Captain Rogers buried his face in his palm when Mr. Stark started laughing. He actually tipped out of his chair when Coulson rounded on him.

Coulson narrowed his eyes at Mr. Stark. "You're to blame for this," he accused.

"No," Kate said, stepping between them. "This was my idea _aa_ -" Her entreaty ended on a hiss as she felt her torn stitches again.

The exasperation, anger, and amusement fell off the men's faces in light of her pain.

"Bishop?" Mr. Stark asked. "What's wrong?"

"Ah, nothing," Kate said, waving him off. "Probably just need to re-up on whatever the hell it was you guys gave me before I got on the jet."

"Are you sure?" Rogers asked, looking at her side, through her open zipper.

She looked down and winced. Shit – blood on the bandages.

Was that there when she was on stage, on camera?

She took a deep breath, and plastered on her strongest magazine smile. "I'm sure it's nothing. I'll get Teddy to fix it, upstairs."

Coulson's eyes narrowed, but he didn't stop Mr. Stark and Captain Rogers from herding her towards the private, cloistered hallway. "Bishop," he said, following them. "You still haven't answered me."

The staffers Mr. Stark had dismissed earlier were there, eyes wide when they saw her. Mr. Stark shooed them away, but Kate was about 95% certain one of them managed to sneak a picture of her as they went.

Damnit.

Kate would deal with that later.

Right now, she turned her head to Coulson. "I don't trust you – we don't trust you. So I just bought us a little insurance."

She expected anger, or frustration, or just about anything other than what she actually saw.

Regret.

"…you still shouldn't have done that," he said. "You just opened up yourself to a world of legal and political vulnerability."

"I know," Kate said, as they approached the elevators. "But I also just got us a lot of protection." Her smile took on a sharp edge. "Such as making it much harder for you to stuff us into some top-secret research bunker somewhere without anybody noticing."

Coulson just sighed. "A, we weren't going to do that anyway. B, I can think of half a dozen ways we still could do that, anyway, if we wanted to."

Mr. Stark snorted, while Captain Rogers and Kate both glared at Coulson. Director Coulson sighed. "You just made life a lot harder for all of us, Bishop-"

"Good!"

"-yourself included."

Kate rolled her eyes as the elevator doors opened, and tried not to waver in her dizziness. Inside, she made sure to stand away from the other three – but also by the wall. There was walking under her own power, and there was _falling_ under her own power, and she knew which one she wanted to be doing.

Upstairs, before the elevator doors had completely opened, her ears were assaulted by, " _Katherine Eleanor Bishop!_ "

"Hi, Dad," Kate said, bracing herself against the elevator before stepping forward. The penthouse seemed to darken around the edges, and she knew she stumbled a bit, but at least she remained upright.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Dad screamed at her, stomping towards her. "Showing yourself like that in front of the whole damn world-"

Before Dad reached her, though, Rogers stepped in front of Kate, holding out a hand to stop him.

Even Dad halted in the face of a stern Captain America.

Rogers opened his mouth, but whatever he said was lost on Kate as she fought to blink an encroaching darkness away.

She scrubbed at her face, and for a moment the entire world seemed to tilt around her. Suddenly there were strong, slender arms around her shoulders.

Oh. _Kate_ was the one tilting.

She looked up to see Tommy holding her upright. The look of concern that seemed so natural on Billy's face was alien on his.

Kate could put the pieces together, could figure out she started to fall, and could see that Tommy must've rushed to her side as soon as he noticed it.

Dad was quiet as Tommy led her to the couch, where everyone was waiting. Billy vacated his spot by Teddy so Kate could take it, and Tommy helped her sit down.

God, she hated this. She hated being the weakest person on the team, hated having no ability to heal. She hated that the only hits she could take were the social and legal and political ones – not the physical ones like everyone else. Even Cassie, the one with the least ability to heal, could compensate by using her size-changing to lessen the damage from the blows she took.

Everyone had gotten hurt over the long weekend. Kate was the only one who was still hurt, now.

Tommy stepped back, and Rikki sat on Kate's other side, helping her get her jacket off. Everyone winced in unison when they saw the blood on her bandages, and Kate hissed in pain.

"Here," a voice said from beside them. She looked up to see Dr. Banner handing Teddy a souped-up looking First Aid box. Or did that make it a Second Aid box? Looking to Kate, he added, "Take the painkillers, please."

Hands glowing red, Billy manipulated the jacket and scarf through the air to give them a modicum of privacy. Rikki helped peel her out of the remains of her shirt. She and Teddy worked together to get the bandages off, with Billy also moving those aside and folding them up loosely, furthering their illusion of privacy.

Rikki hissed at the popped stitches, and Kate laughed.

"Are you sure you know how to fix those?" Dr. Banner asked, expression dubious.

A week ago, Kate would've squirmed or screamed at the thought of a 40-something man or a teenage boy seeing her shirtless and vulnerable.

She couldn't care less, now.

She just glared at Dr. Banner, who threw his hands up in surrender and backed off.

When he did, she tried to soften her expression. "Thanks," she murmured. After all, he'd been the one who offered to do just two stitches to show Teddy how it's done, then let her own friends take over.

He seemed to know a thing or two about medical paranoia – even when it was unfounded.

She could hear Rogers murmuring something to Romanoff, Barton, and Thor over on the other couch, but she couldn't make out what he was saying. She couldn't see Mr. Stark anywhere, but before she could ask, a cotton swab of burning pain was dabbing at the gash on her side just as the scent of rubbing alcohol hit her nose.

Biting into the flesh of her free, uninjured hand, she keened in pain. Teddy murmured soothing words that went over her head, and then something cool and pasty was being rubbed over it. The throbbing died down after a few moments. She could feel the piercing and tugging as Teddy redid the two stitches, but it didn't hurt as much as before, and she would take what she could get.

As he started to finish, Kate heard a choked sound, and looked up towards it.

She wanted to laugh at the look on Dad's face as her wide scarf and open jacket just floated between them. He stared as her unwound bandages also started floating upwards, snaking around her and Teddy – and almost pointedly cutting her off from Dad.

Kate slowly nodded, because she still had limits. (She was working on them.) Eli got a glass of water from Stark's bar, and Rikki was opening the bottle of painkillers and shaking out two pills for Kate.

"This," Dad said, getting over his shock and waving his hand at her body. "Is why you can't keep doing this!"

"And what, exactly, are you going to do about it?" Kate taunted.

"Two words," Dad said, repeating himself from earlier. "Boarding school."

Kate snorted. "I just broke my friends out of military-complex imprisonment twice in one long weekend, and you think a boarding school can hold me?" She snorted in pointed disbelief. "I hate to break it to you, Daddy, but nothing short of prison is holding me down."

"And even that won't last for long, once we find out where you put her," Teddy chimed in.

Kate grinned at him, at her friends, at her team – all of whom were standing by her (literally!) and glaring at her dad.

Was this what having friends was like? A part of Kate knew they probably were only putting up with her because of the money she could help them out with, and because she was the one who broke them out of prison. It couldn't last and it wouldn't last, it never did. But for now, while she still had them, she was going to enjoy this.

"Face it," Kate challenged her father again. "It's not like you can just hide me away, now. No convenient vacations or 'educational opportunities' for you to shove me into until this blows over. This cat is never going back into the bag."

For a moment, there was an awkward silence, and Kate winced as she realized the implication of what she said.

Maybe it wasn't just SHIELD and HYDRA she'd been protecting the team from, by throwing her identity out into the open.

Taking a deep breath, she instead continued, "Dad, I don't need you to support me, and you don't want to, anyway. I just need you to not interfere – because if you do, then I'll pursue an emancipation."

Her dad's eyebrows went up. "That seems a bit extreme, don't you think?" he said.

"Maybe," she said. "But what would you rather be? The man whose kid helped a team of teen-aged superheroes escape from the clutches of a psychotic Nazi group and uncover multiple conspiracy plots? Or the father who drove his kid out of his home after she did all of that?"

"You talk as if you'll get emancipated," he said with a snort.

Kate clenched her jaw, and pushed herself up against Teddy's steady bulk.

(She smiled when she felt a slight, ethereal push along her spine, and made a mental note to thank Billy later.)

"New York requirements for me to be emancipated minor are for me to have my own home, my own source of income, and basically end up completely independent of you," Kate said. "Or, y'know, enter the military." She took as deep a breath as she could before her side started stinging again. "How much money do you think I could get by agreeing to media appearances? Or if I trademarked myself? Or if I worked as a – what's the word – private contractor? Security consultant? The world's smallest and sexiest bodyguard?"

Off to the side, Barton snorted, and Kate's smirk quirked a little at that. "I mean, I'm going to do at least some of those, now – and I only have to do those until I'm 21 and can access my trust fund from Mom. It won't be difficult for me to find a new place to live on my own. And if worst comes to worst, I think I've proven myself enough that getting into the military wouldn't be a problem for me, either."

She could swear she heard the sound of Barton choking, but she didn't turn around to check. "Honestly, Dad, cut me off now, I'll take me like a month to meet all the requirements, and two to get emancipation." Gesturing towards the switched-off TV, she said, "Think this will have blown over by then?"

Behind Kate, she heard the sound of badly suppressed snickers. In front of her, though, Dad was completely silent as he looked her up and down. He didn't seem to be sure if she was real or not.

"…you've thought of this before, haven't you?" Dad finally said. "Somehow, I doubt you researched this during your little fugitive phase over the weekend."

Kate shut her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I was _raped_ ," she said, spitting out the word and trying not to revel in her dad's flinch. "And your first and only response was to say that I shouldn't have been walking alone at night. Of course I fucking thought about it!"

"Language, young lady!" Dad snapped. "And who, exactly, was it that paid for your therapy?"

"After a school counselor told you I needed it!" Kate snapped. "Twice!"

Dad looked ready to keep fighting, but he looked past Kate – at everyone else behind her.

Kate turned to see that all of them were silently staring at Dad. Not quite glaring, just…judging.

Dad always was a pushover.

"…fine," he said. "You're not going to listen to a word I say, anyway." Crossing his arms, he said, "Do what you want, I'll sign off on it. But don't think this means I'm encouraging you or supporting your nonsense."

He pulled out his phone, and sighed at whatever the screen was showing him.

"Now, I'll have to go see if I can salvage something out of being a Young Avenger's father," he muttered. He pursed his lips, looked around, and then told Kate, "Call me when you come home."

There was dead silence throughout the penthouse as Dad turned on his heel and went for the elevator.

"This meeting went well," Kate concluded.

She smiled, pleased at the outcome of events, only to notice the way her team was staring at her. "What?" she asked.

"…you're not being sarcastic, are you?" Billy asked.

"No?" Kate said, confused. "He's not going to ship me off to boarding school and make me deal with breaking back out again. And he's not going to cut me off, money-wise. not yet, anyways, I'm sure he will eventually, but the buffer time will make a huge difference down the road. This meeting went well!"

"You call talks with your dad 'meetings'?" Eli asked incredulously.

Kate frowned, still confused. "Um, yeah? What else are they?"

"Talks with your dad!" Eli said.

"Your dad's kinda fucked up, Princess," Rikki said. "And I think I know a thing or two about fucked-up families. I mean – you're hurt, you've been through hell, and he still yells at you like you're some business partner instead of his daughter."

"I'm not his daughter, I'm a leech," Kate corrected. "Doesn't mean I'm not gonna make the most of it while I have it."

Eli muttered something about _white nonsense_ under his breath. Tommy said, "Okay, I have really low standards after half a life-time of foster care, and even I think your dad's messed up."

Pursing her lips, Kate said, "And? It's what I've got, and I'm going to make the most of it while I still have it."

"Still," Cassie said, looking at the elevators in bewilderment. "He just – left you here?"

"I can get home," Kate started.

"That's not the point!" Cassie cried out. "I mean, my dad's spent a quarter of my childhood in prison and he was more of a father to me than…this!"

Kate shrugged, wondering what the big deal was. "That's great, Cassie, but that's not my dad. Besides, what I lack in loving support for him, I get in money with little to no strings or conditions attached. It's a fair trade-off."

Her team still looked so bewildered, which just made no sense to Kate.

She wasn't an idiot – she knew her allowance was probably bigger than all their families' wealth combined. It wasn't like she was suffering or anything. Rikki's grandpa was an asshole, Teddy's mom turned out to be HYDRA, and Billy and Tommy had run a gamut of foster families before getting adopted. So what if Kate's dad wasn't all lovey-dovey? Why did they look so sad? It's not like she was out on her ass with no one to go to.

Besides, it wasn't like Dad was her only family.

"Hey, Mr. Stark?" Kate asked. "Can I borrow a phone? I think mine is still with my car in Tennessee."

Mr. Stark raised an eyebrow, but rather than ordering one, he pulled out his own from his pocket. "Jay," he called out. "Guest mode, please."

"Of course, Sir," Jonas' dad said. The screen of his phone flashed. When he handed it to her, it looked like it was just bought from a store – despite the fact there was no way in hell this man would be using a regular, commercial phone, even if it was a commercial Stark phone.

"Thanks, Mr. Stark," she said. She looked at ceiling. "Mr. Jarvis? I'm assuming that your guys' creepy file on me includes my sister's phone number…?"

"Indeed it does," he said, sounding amused. A moment later, the phone app was on the screen of the phone, her sister's number waiting for her to hit the green 'Call' button. "I believe your sister is currently participating in a fashion show in Milan."

"Thank you," she said. Her team looked wary, but with a shrug, Kate hit the green button. She had no idea what time it was in Italy, though considering it was morning here in New York, it wasn't something unreasonable.

Kate hoped. Susan deserved to hear this from her. News traveled fast, but Kate doubted this revelation would jump that many time-zones, countries, and oceans in less than an hour.

Thankfully, she picked up.

"Hello, this is Susan Bishop," she started.

"Hey, Susie," Kate cut in. "Guess who?"

"Kate?" Susan asked, surprised. "What happened to your phone?"

"I'm borrowing one," Kate didn't answer. She smirked at her new friends. "Listen, did you hear about a bunch of teenage, Avenger wannabes breaking into an FBI building last night?"

"Yeah," Susan said. "I saw it on the news this morning, why?"

"Well," Kate said. "Guess who got to finally put a decade of martial arts and archery to good use?"

It took only a moment for her implication to sink in.

" _WHAT?!_ "

With a grin, Kate launched into her – heavily edited – account of her new vigilante career.

Might as well practice her story now. She got the feeling she was going to be repeating this story many, many times in her near future.

She was looking forward to it.


	2. Peter

Peter knew, intellectually, that SHIELD had talked to Aunt May, told them about him being Spider-Man.

Yet when JARVIS said, "Mr. Parker, your aunt is arriving," his first instinct was to yank on his hoodie. It wasn't until his arms were through it that he realized hiding his suit was pointless.

Still…

Rikki, Kate, and Eli raised Extremely Amused Eyebrows. Tommy rolled his eyes, Jonas shook his head in exasperation, and Teddy and Billy were snickering at him.

Sticking his tongue out at them, Peter deigned not to take the hoodie back off when the elevator doors opened and Aunt May was standing there.

Peter stood by the couches, hesitant. It was a sick sort of irony that he, Jonas, and Kate were the only ones with family right here in New York, when they were the ones who'd just seen their family only a few days prior. The others' families were still en route – even if it was only en route from different airports. Yet they were the ones who hadn't seen their families in months.

He'd just seen Aunt May only a few days ago. He'd gone longer without seeing her, in life. Rarely, but it happened. Her couple's vacation with Uncle Ben had been a week long. He'd been to summer camp for two weeks in elementary school, and three weeks in middle school. There had even been a week where the usual night waitresses at the diner were all sick and Aunt May kept picking up shifts, getting home after Peter went to bed and leaving before he woke up in the morning, so even though they'd been in the same house, he just went a week never seeing her.

This nightmare was only really four days, five at a stretch. Him, Jonas, and Kate left town on Friday night, and it was only Wednesday morning now.

Five days.

For a moment, she just stood by the elevator as he gripped the back of the couch. He stared at her as she stared at him – all of him. The suit, the mask dangling from his fingers, the tears and bloodstains in his suit…

With a sound he hadn't heard from her since the cops told her Uncle Ben died, she ran forward. Before Peter even realized what was happening, she had her arms wrapped around him, her face buried in his neck, and…

"Aunt May?" Peter asked, awkwardly patting her back. "Are…are you crying?"

She stepped back, and indeed, she was.

The tears were still trailing down her face when she reached up and swatted him upside the head.

" _OW!_ " Peter yelped, dropping his mask to reach up and rub at the spot. "Aunt May!"

"You said you were going out to a _party_!" she cried out. She wrapped her arms around him again, trapping one arm at his side while the other arm got pushed up even closer to his head. Behind him, everyone badly suppressed their cooing and giggling. Peter flipped them off with his free hand, while he tried to maneuver his trapped one to return her hug.

"Well, I said I was going out with some friends," Peter said. "Which is, y'know, technically correct-"

"You raided a military base!" she shouted in his neck, still refusing to let go. Except she did exactly that a moment later, stepping back again and wrapping her arms around herself. She was wearing her usual dress-and-sweater combo, but Peter didn't think she was actually cold. "I was making breakfast and planning on yelling at you for staying out past your curfew, and suddenly I had _SHIELD agents_ at my door, telling me my baby boy had broken into a military base and- and-"

She took another step back – not to get away with him, but to look him over. At the bloodstains on his chest, she made a pained sound that Peter never wanted to hear again.

"No, no, I'm fine!" Peter reassured her, but she reached out and brushed her fingers over the tears in his suit. He reached up and pulled it aside, showing her the skin underneath. It was scabbed over, but it was healing. He didn't even need any bandages!

"I'm fine," he began.

"That is not fine!" she cried out, staring at the scabs.

"No, look, it's already healing over, it'll be gone in a week," Peter promised.

She took a deep breath and dropped her hand. "You know that from experience, don't you?"

Peter winced. "Well, I mean-"

"You're Spider-Man," she gasped out. "You- all of that. With the lizard and all those muggings and the bruises you were always coming home with-"

"They're nothing!" Peter said. She looked even more horrified, so he added, "They looked worse than they were."

"You said they were from skateboarding accidents!" she shouted.

"Some of them probably were," Jonas muttered from behind Peter.

"No one asked you!" Peter cried out. Aunt May peered around him, then her eyes went wide with recognition.

" _Kate?!_ " she asked in bewilderment.

Peter turned to see Kate awkwardly raising her uninjured arm. "Hey, Mrs. Parker."

Aunt May looked even more horrified as she took in Kate's bruised face, her split lip, and all the bloodstained tears in her shirt – with the bandages still visible underneath.

Peter realized she hadn't seen Kate's little PR stunt, just now. He didn't know how long Aunt May had been en route from home to here, but he'd bet it was longer than how long it was since Kate disappeared to go to the bathroom and was suddenly on their TV screen.

"What happened?" Aunt May asked, bewildered. She looked between all the kids, but especially Peter and Kate.

"Well, it was kind of a party?" Peter said. "There were…shenanigans."

For some reason, half the team started cracking up at that. Aunt May had that _‘you won't see your skateboard until you're in college’_ look on her face.

"Shenanigans?" she cried out. " _Shenanigans!?_ "

Peter nodded, wincing as he realized how terrible that sounded.

Aunt May gave him a long look, one Peter couldn't read, before she deflated, reaching out to hold his hand.

"So what happens now?" she asked quietly.

"I don't know," Peter admitted. Looking around, he said, "I was – I tried to protect you-"

"By keeping all this secret from me?" she demanded.

"Even before I got Uncle Ben killed, you had heart problems!" Peter protested. "And now-"

"What do you mean, you got him killed?" she demanded, horrified and confused.

Peter blinked. "I – I told you. The robber? And-"

"That wasn't your fault!" she cried out.

He continued to stare, confused. "What are you- How was it not-"

"Peter, if that man hadn't shot Ben, he would've shot someone else," she said. Oh, no, she was crying again, this was bad, very bad- "Is that what you've been thinking all this time? That it was your fault?"

He didn't answer, which was answer enough on its own.

She reached out and wrapped her hands around one of his. "You're not going to believe me if I tell you it's not your fault, are you?"

Peter opened his mouth, closed it, and shook his head. She didn't look surprised, just like she was badly suppressing tears.

"Are you going to stop?" she asked.

This time, Peter shrugged – honestly so. "Not if I can help it," he admitted. Then, he tilted his head towards where Director Coulson was standing by the fancy holographic desk. "But it may not be up to me."

"It's not just them, Peter," she said. "I can't – I've already lost Ben. Don't make me lose you, too."

"You won't-"

"You can't promise that!" she cried out. Her grip on his hand tightened into something bordering on painful, before she let go to wrap her arms around herself. "Not as long as you're doing this."

"…Uncle Ben wasn't doing anything like this," Peter pointed out. "Aunt May, I can't – it's not just me. Do you know how many lives I've saved, doing this?" He gestured behind him, where the Young Avengers were doing a bad job of pretending they weren't eavesdropping. "These guys have been in hell for months and I was able to help them!"

Aunt May looked between the team – who all waved awkwardly – and Peter. She shut her eyes like she was in pain.

Goddamnit, this is what Peter had been trying to _prevent_.

"Let's see," she said finally.

Peter opened his mouth, then closed it.

This was not the time to contradict her, nor the place to talk about how he might contradict SHIELD.

"Okay," he agreed.

Aunt May smiled like she knew he was lying, and grabbed his hand again. "God, Peter, I can't – I knew something was wrong, but I honestly just can't believe this. I'm standing at the top of Stark Tower in a room full of honest-to-god superheroes and I just can't believe my little boy is one of them."

Peter looked down at his suit-clad body, then back up at her. She rolled her eyes at the look on his face. "You know what I mean."

His shoulders slumped as he acknowledged, "Yeah, I do." He looked around himself, unsure of what to do – then thought of something that might, at the very least, distract her a little.

"Wanna see something cool?" he asked.

She raised an eyebrow that managed to look bemused, despite her still-shining eyes. "I don't know, do I?" she asked – just like she always did.

With a grin, Peter eased his hand out of hers, and took a few steps back, towards the windows.

She gasped when he leaped into the air and landed on the ceiling.

He anchored himself to the ceiling by his toes and the balls of his feet, his knees, and one of his hands. With the other hand, he leaned 'back' – down – to wave at Aunt May. She just gaped at him.

"How…?"

Peter crawled across the ceiling, over to the windows, and crawled about a third of the way down one.

"Uh, how familiar are you with arachnid setae and Van der Waals forces of attraction?" Peter asked.

She gave him that look that told him she knew he was trying to talk over her head. Except this time, he wasn't.

"I'll explain later, but it's the same way spiders do," he said.

Behind Aunt Many, Thor – he was in the same room as the god of thunder holy shit – walked up to them, seeming to be focusing on Peter's hands on the window.

"Do you leave marks upon the glass?" he asked.

"Um…sometimes?" Peter asked. He lifted up a hand, and squinted, and indeed, there was a faint hand-print on there. "Like right now."

Thor seemed…amused. "I would recommend coming down soon, then."

"Or what?" Peter asked.

Before anyone could answer, Mr. Stark's voice shouted from the bar, " _What the hell are you doing to my windows?!_ "

"Before that," Thor answered with a grin.

Aunt May facepalmed, though whether it was at Peter or Mr. Stark, Peter had no idea.

With a sigh, Peter breathed on the handprint, and started buffing it with the wrist of his hoodie.

This, at least, he knew how to do.


	3. Eli

As Peter and his aunt tried to clean the window he just messed up, the rest of the team remained by the couch circle. Though it was more of a couch square. Rikki, Kate, and Billy were chilling, Cassie was readjusting her over-stretched clothing, and Teddy and Jonas were fiddling with Teddy's pants. It was a lot funnier than it really should be.

"Bradley."

Eli turned to see Captain Rogers approaching them. He was still wearing his uniform, though his shield was nowhere to be seen.

"Your grandparents should be here, soon," he said.

Eli blinked in surprise. "That seems…kinda fast."

"SHIELD went to your families as soon as we knew who you were," Rogers answered. "And as soon as we had you in Albuquerque, SHIELD arranged for your families to fly here."

"Awful confident you'd get us here," Tommy grumbled.

Again, Rogers shrugged.

Ignoring Rogers, Eli looked down at himself.

"You'll be fine," he heard Kate say. He looked up to see her wincing as she reached out to him, wrapping one of her hands around his. The calluses on her fingers and palms scraped gently against the backs of his knuckles. "Black Captain America or not, he's your grandpa first. That's all that'll matter."

"Black Captain America?" several confused voices echoed – including Rogers'.

Of fucking course.

"Yeah," Eli snapped at Rogers. He didn't pull his hand out of Kate's, but she gave him a squeeze and let go. "That's how I landed up in this mess in the first place."

Frowning in confusion, Rogers tilted his head, like he was inviting Eli to keep talking. With a start, Eli realized that's exactly what he was doing.

"Before the Project Rebirth they teach in the history books," Eli said to his teammates. He looked sidelong at Rogers and added, "Before you." Rogers flinched, but Eli ignored him and focused back on his teammates, minus only Peter still talking to his aunt in the corner. "There were a bunch of black candidates for the Captain America experiment. And my grandpa was one of them. They were supposed to be the ones the experiment was perfected on before it got used on white soldiers. Because black soldiers were _'expendable'_."

Eli waited for Rogers to cut in, to 'correct' him.

Instead, much to Eli's shock, Rogers' face fell and his eyes grew wide with something like grief and regret, and he let his weight drop against the couch half of Eli's team was sitting on.

Rogers stared sightlessly out the window, looking out over the whole city.

The city he grew up on the streets of, and now watched over from above.

Eli didn't really care what kind of background Rogers had come from, not in the face of all the privilege he had now.

"I knew there were previous candidates," Rogers said finally. "And that they'd been – black. And that they were 'retired' once politicians took interest in the project. With political clout on the line, they switched over to white subjects." He swallowed. "But I thought…"

"What?" Eli demanded.

Rogers shook his head. "I'd been the only 4F in my wave, the only one put in straight from civilian ranks. Everyone else there had been previously accepted for infantry, and had at least some prior military placement, even if it was only a few weeks of bootcamp. Most had actual experience." He took a deep breath. "I thought the prior wave had been the same. That they'd been taken out of other units, and once the publicity precluded black candidates, they were just returned to the units they'd been pulled from."

"Really?" Eli asked, disbelieving. How in the hell could old white guys be so stupid?

Rogers nodded. "It was…I can see how it seems so stupid in hindsight. But that's what they said and that's what we believed. It didn't work, so that's why I was such a big risk."

"Wait," Kate asked with a frown. "If it didn't work, then how come…?"

"It didn't work _at the time_ ," Eli said, glaring at Rogers – who actually looked contrite.

That was…a new experience.

"But when Grandpa got cancer, he got stronger," Eli said. "A lot stronger, and faster, even as he started losing his ability to eat and always getting sick. When he went into remission, he stopped getting any stronger or faster."

"Why didn't the SSR or SHIELD resume research?" Cassie asked.

"Because this happened in 1973," he said bluntly. At their confused looks, Eli rolled his eyes and said, "The Tuskegee syphillis experiments?"

They all looked confused. Surprise, surprise. Though, actually, Teddy was nodding in understanding, so Eli actually _was_ surprised. Jonas was doing the head-tilt thing that seemed to mean he was looking something up, what with his brain being connected to the Internet or something. After a moment, he also nodded in understanding, which caught everyone else's eyes.

"Care to fill us in?" Billy asked, looking between Jonas, Teddy, and Eli.

"It was a clinical trial that ran from 1932 to 1972," Jonas recited. "It was perpetrated by the U.S. Public Health Service, studying the natural progression of untreated syphilis in rural black men in Alabama, disguised as free health care from the United States government. It was terminated in fall of 1972, after a disease investigator took the details to the press – which he had to do, because appeals to higher offices in the health service system were continuously rebuffed, as they have been since the first dissenter objected to the unethical practice back in 1965."

Eli hated how shocked everyone looked. After everything they've been through so far, why in the hell were they surprised? HYDRA and Nazis weren't the only racists in the world, willing to use anyone outside their 'superior race' as little more than human chattel.

"Yeah," he said, instead of anything he was actually thinking. "So, y'know, not exactly lining up to tell government agencies details about our health."

Rogers nodded. "Of course you weren't," he said. Eli narrowed his eyes, but he actually couldn't find a drop of condescension in his voice.

He didn't get this guy at all.

"Anyway," Eli said, shaking his head. "I think this experiment did something to his DNA, too, because my mom also got cancer and died. Then I got cancer, when I was little. The doctors didn't want grandpa to donate bone-marrow to me, with his own cancer history, but he was the only match, so they risked it."

"Mine, too," Rikki added. "Only one guy matched me, and they said it was a risk." With a shrug, she added, "Though as far as I know, my family wasn't ever involved in any experiment shit. I'm pretty sure HYDRA just snapped me up because of the bone-marrow."

Eli shrugged right back at her. "I don't know if they wanted me just for the bone marrow, or if it was family history, too." He looked back at Rogers. "But they took me, either way. I never had superpowers, though, until…whatever the hell it was HYDRA did to me."

He hated that he had to say it that way. He hated that he had no idea what they did to him. He didn’t even have some overly scientific report he could read without understanding, let alone true comprehension of what his own body had undergone.

All of them had killed HYDRA agents at one point or another over the last few days, and Eli was no exception. But god, he wished he'd gotten a few more, or better yet, gotten the people who did this to him, to them.

(He knew better than to say that, though. The world was unkind to all black men, but especially the few who admitted just how angry all of them were.)

Before Eli had to keep fighting this battle in his head, before he said something that would get him rounded up and imprisoned again, before he could do anything else, Jonas' dad chimed from everywhere, "Mr. and Mrs. Bradley have arrived."

Eli jerked up, and slipped off the arm of the couch he'd been sitting on. He jogged the few yards to the elevator, and praying that Kate was right, he cried out, "Grandma! Grandpa!"

"Eli!"

He hadn't heard his grandmother's voice in half a year. That was half a year without nagging about his schoolwork or reminders to clean his room or yelling at him to do his chores. Half a year without her telling him to be safe when walking to school, half a year without her welcoming him home after, half a year without her wishing him goodnight before bed.

Half a year, and he'd already been wondering if he was remembering her voice right.

He didn't even see her so much as feel her when he ran right towards her – then stopped just short, remembering his new strength, his new body that he didn't want but had to deal with.

She didn't let him get away with that for long. With a pained cry that dug right into Eli's soul, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. For a moment, Eli buried his face in her shoulder, in the familiar scent of her detergent, and the hint of her flower garden and one of her soups that clung to her sweater.

He felt a broad, familiar hand against his shoulder, and eased away to see Grandpa there. He smiled like he knew all of Eli's secrets – and until Eli'd gotten kidnapped, he _had_ known most of them.

"Grandpa," Eli said – whispered, really. His throat was frozen around a tearful lump that's been months in the making.

Months.

Grandpa wasn't good with words anymore, but he didn't need to be. The smile slipped off his face as he pulled Eli into a tight hug, wrapping him in superhuman strength that's always been their secret. Grandpa's arms had always been the safest place in the world to Eli, and he never wanted to leave them again.

Of course, he had to – and he did, a minute later.

"I'm so sorry," Eli whispered. Grandpa looked confused, and Eli added, "Everything they did to you – they did to me, too. But…smarter. Worse."

Grandpa glared. No matter how much of a soft man he was at heart, there was no way to not be intimidated when he got like this. He was large man, around Thor's size. Even when he had a smile on his face and mischief in his eyes, some people got intimidated by him. Like this, upset, angry? "Grandpa-"

Before he could say anything else, grandpa stepped forward again, ducking down and wrapping his arms around Eli's waist. Eli yelped in surprise when Grandpa lifted him – just like he'd always done.

"Put him back where you found him, Isaiah," Grandma chided like she always did, her stern words undermined by her tears.

Grandpa ignored her, like he always did, and spun Eli around. Where most men struggled to do this with their sons by kindergarten, grandpa was still going strong.

He still had that smile on his face when he finally obliged Grandpa and put Eli down. Placing one hand on each of Eli's shoulders, his smile grew, and grew sad, and he shook his head.

"I didn't choose this," Eli agreed. "But – it still happened."

Grandpa pursed his lips, then squeezed Eli's shoulders. The grip was gentle, at first, but then grew tighter and tighter, until Eli gasped and had to squirm away. He took two steps back, armed crossed to rub at opposite shoulders.

"What…?" he asked. Grandpa crossed his arms, raised an eyebrow, and with his freer hand, made a little walking motion towards Eli with his first two fingers. "Oh. Pressure?" Grandpa nodded, and Eli sighed. "It's not about – my choices. I got what you…what you should've had."

"No!" Grandma snapped, standing beside Grandpa. "Neither of you deserved to be used and abused the way you were."

There was never any arguing with grandma, especially not now, so Eli nodded – for now.

For a moment, they just stood there, only a few feet from the elevator. Grandpa took one of Eli's hands in his own and squeezed, while Grandma did the same with the other.

"Mr. Bradley?"

They all turned to see Captain Goddamned America standing there. No, not just standing – lurking there, and lurking there awkwardly.

"Eli told us about your history with Rebirth, how you got your powers, how…everything, " Rogers began. He looked like a man about to face execution. "I had no idea. I'm so, so sorry-"

Before he could continue, grandpa held out his hand.

Rogers blinked down at the hand, looking stunned.

Swallowing, looking way more nervous than Eli thought was possible for Captain Fucking America, he took Grandpa's hand, squeezing it and giving it a shake. Grandpa returned the gesture.

Except he must've used all his strength, because Rogers winced, and his knees seemed to shake.

Then he stopped wincing, his legs steadied, his shoulders loosened…

…and Grandpa was smiling.

Rogers looked as surprised as Eli felt.

"Grandpa?" Eli asked, just a little cautious. "You're not…" Grandpa's smile seemed to almost turn into a smirk. "You're accepting his apology? Just like that?!"

Grandpa's smirk only grew. Looking at Steve, he tapped Rogers' heart, then pointed at Eli.

Grandma's eyebrows briefly rose, before they settled into her usual reserved observation. She only did that when she figured out what Grandpa was getting at, but was letting everyone else figure it out for themselves.

Rogers looked back and forth between Eli and Grandpa, before understanding dawned in his eyes.

"I'll look after him," Rogers promised. "I'll do everything I can to protect him."

Eli scowled, but Grandpa's smirk turned into a genuine smile, and he nodded, holding out a hand again.

This time, the shake was gentle and genuine between them.

"Soon," Grandma said, stepping around Grandpa to wrap an arm around Eli's shoulders again. He leaned into her, trying not to think about his height and hers. Last time he'd seen her nearly half a year ago, he was only as tall as her. Now, he was a little taller, and had to bend his neck even more to get his head into the crook of her neck, under her jaw. "You'll have to tell us everything – more than what…SHIELD told us. But not now."

Eli nodded wordlessly.

At least he was still shorter than Grandpa. Then again, he'd always expected to be shorter than Grandpa. Everyone was shorter than him…except maybe Thor. Maybe.

And did the Hulks count?

Grandpa grinned, and started making a weight-lifting motion with one arm, while pointing to Eli with the other.

Swallowing around the lump in his throat, Eli nodded again. If Grandma noticed any new wet spots on her sweater, she wasn't saying anything.

"Yeah, Grandpa," Eli promised. "We can work out together."

Grandpa came over and wrapped them both in a hug, tight and gentle like home.

After a moment, Grandpa stepped back and patted Eli's shoulder, then glanced over at Rogers.

He made the same weight-lifting motion, and an inviting gesture. Rogers' eyes shined suspiciously as he smiled and said, "Thank you, Mr. Bradley. I'd love to."

Grandpa grinned, and then gave Eli a mock-appraising look.

Grandma filled in for him, musing to Eli, "I wonder how strong you are?"

With a slow smile, Eli ducked out from Grandma's hug, and ducked down to Grandpa. Wrapping his arms around Grandpa's thighs, Eli lifted Grandpa up like he always did for Eli. He only faltered from his center of gravity being thrown off, lifting that much weight, but otherwise he remained steady as he started to spin Grandpa around.

Grandpa stared down himself at Eli lifting him up like a kid, eye wide and mouth hanging open. Then he threw his head back and laughed.

For the first time since Eli got his powers, he was looking forward to seeing what he could do with them.


	4. Billy (and Tommy)

"Mr. and Mrs. Kaplan are here," was all the warning Billy and Tommy got before the elevator doors opened to reveal their parents.

Mom practically burst out, with Dad trailing behind her in ill-disguised anxiety. Mom's cardigan was ruffled in a way Billy hadn't seen since the day Tommy was arrested, and Dad's flat suit wasn't in much better shape.

It's been over half a year since he's seen them, but they've never been a better sight for Billy's sore eyes and sorer heart.

They spotted the boys right away. As Tommy tensed, Billy jumped up and ran to meet his parents halfway, throwing himself into a group hug right by the bar.

"God, Billy," Mom said, her voice muffled into Billy's scarf. "We looked everywhere for you two, we looked so hard! And then yesterday, we had SHIELD at our door telling us you were…you were – and HYDRA, and we saw the Albuquerque clips on the news, and-"

Her voice trailed off, and Billy managed to free one hand from where it was trapped by Dad's bulk to wipe his eyes.

"I'm okay, now," Billy lied. "We both are."

"No, you're not," Mom said, her head leaning back slightly. "But _that's_ okay."

"They told us what you've been through," Dad rumbled. "About being experimented on, for superpowers."

"You've got a long road to being okay," Mom continued. "But we'll be with you every step of the way."

Billy nodded, burying his face in Mom's hair again. "I believe you," he murmured – and this time, he was telling the truth.

With another tight squeeze, Mom stepped back, wiping away at the tears trailing down her face. Dad also let go of Billy a moment later.

Tommy was still making his way over when Mom and Dad released Billy a moment later. One would never guess the boy slowly walking up to them had super-speed, and might be the fastest person in the world.

"How was the flight?" Tommy deadpanned.

Mom's laugh was a little wet as she reached out a hand for Tommy to awkwardly grasp. Dad covered both their joined hands with one of his own.

"Hectic," he answered. "They told us last night you were on our way, but had to get out of town limits for them to airlift us here from Hartford."

"Not too far, thankfully, just by the little airport," she said. With a smile, she added, "The jet that Stark sent is pretty quiet."

The use of Iron Man's name reminded Billy of their circumstances. He glanced at Tommy, then looked back at Mom and Dad.

"What are we going to do now?" Billy asked quietly. "About – everything that's happened to us?"

Mom's face hardened.

"We'll sue the prison for wrongful imprisonment," she said, voice fierce like she was going to do battle with the Homeowners' Association, the PTA, and City Council all at once. Billy had no doubt she would cow every courtroom into compliance. "And the judge for corruption, and whatever the hell is left of HYDRA, and-"

"We'll make them all _pay_ for what they did to you boys," Dad declared.

Billy smiled.

Tommy said, "I'm gonna go to the bathroom," and did a terrible job of pretending he wasn't running away as he did exactly that.

For a brief moment, they all stared after him. Then, Mom and Dad sighed, and Mom turned around to wrap her arms around Billy.

Billy had already been as tall as her, the day he was kidnapped. He hated to realize he could almost see over her head, now.

He hugged her back, anyway.

"I'm so sorry," Dad said from behind him, clapping a hand down on Billy's shoulder. "We promised to protect you boys, and we've failed you so much."

"Don't," Billy started, wiggling until Mom's hug loosened so he could look at Dad square in the eye. "You guys only thought you'd have to protect us from, like, bullies and homophobes and crap. None of us expected HYDRA."

Dad looked almost tearful as he nodded. "I know. That doesn't make us feel any less responsible."

"But we know better, now," Mom said, leaning back a little to look at Billy. Look up at him – it wasn't by much, but it was more than she'd ever had to before he was taken. "We'll protect you from this, too."

Did 'you' mean Billy, or Billy and Tommy?

Really, it hadn't even been about protecting them, the boys. They'd been mostly worried about Billy.

Everyone was always worried about Billy, or focused on him – and Tommy was the one always pushed to the side.

Even Mom and Dad hugged Billy way more than Tommy.

"Including Tommy?" Billy asked. "Even though you like me more than him?"

Mom blinked. "What?"

"You always hug me before him," Billy said. "And you barely do things like pat him on the shoulder or compliment him or-"

"That's because he wouldn't believe us if we did," Dad said.

Now it was Billy's turn to blink in confusion. "What?"

"Sweetie," Mom said. "Tommy is suspicious of all affection and foster parents. Rightfully so, if the reports of your homes before us are accurate. If we treated him the same way we did you, he'd think it was all fake."

"So you just don't be nice to him at all?"

"We do," Mom said. "Tommy won't believe it if we're open with affection, but if he thinks it's about us, or that he 'earned' it? Then he'll accept it."

"Better one hug that he believes and takes love from," Dad said. "Than a hundred hugs that he finds meaningless and only tolerates because he thinks he has to."

Billy slumped over against the counter, nearly falling off the barstool, but not quite. "…how do you guys do all this stuff?" he mumbled.

Dad wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "We've had trauma training, Bills. There was a reason you two were placed with us."

With a sigh, Billy leaned into his side, and wished Tommy could do this just as easily.

"That's good, because we're gonna need it," Billy said. He took a deep breath, and pulled his scarf down – revealing the burn scars on his neck. "A lot of it."

Mom gasped, hand flying halfway up to cover her mouth, before pausing and slowly moving towards Billy's neck, instead. He tilted his head back to let her see better. He took a deep breath, then another, then started explaining.

"Apparently, restraining someone with superspeed is a pain in the ass, so they just used 'torturing me' as a way of controlling him," Billy said. "The only upside to them doing this to me was that they were so confident it would keep him in line, they got lazy about restraining him. It's how he was able to escape, once there was a big enough distraction."

Mom was crying, and even Dad's eyes seemed to simmer a bit.

But their trauma training ran pretty deep. They grasped each other's hands, took a few deep breaths until they were matching each other, and then Mom spoke.

"Therapy," she said. "For PTSD, we'll find the best ones in town, in the _state_ if we have to."

"And self-defense lessons," Dad continued. "For your actual safety, and for your psychological well-being."

Billy nodded, already knowing how Tommy was going to take all this.

"You've missed most of the school year," Mom said, looking like she was already planning what to do. "Do you think-"

Billy winced. "Um…is homeschooling out?"

Mom and Dad looked at each other. But when Mom looked about ready to fret, Dad squeezed her hand, as well as tightening his arm around Billy's shoulders.

"We'll figure this out," he said. "We don't need to take care of everything today. Right now, we just want to get you boys back home, or somewhere safe."

Dropping his head against Dad's shoulder, Billy nodded. "Sounds like a good plan to me."

For a few moments, they lurked in silence. All three kept an eye on the doorway that Tommy had disappeared through, waiting for him to appear, again.

While they were waiting, Ms. Potts brought out a tray of mugs, a coffee pot. It came another pot that looked like it was filled with something other than coffee, and those little ceramic pitchers of milk and creamer, and a sugar pot, with another dish full of sweetener packets in it.

"I thought you were the CEO, now," Agent Romanoff called out, even as she sat up when Ms. Potts brought the tray towards the coffee table.

"Doesn't mean I can't be a good host," she said.

"Because Tony won't be?" Barton offered.

"He's…currently getting ready to be a different kind of host," Ms. Potts said, exasperation and affection in her voice. It was the same tone Billy used when Tommy was being a dick to someone at school who'd given Billy a hard time. She turned to look at the scattered groups – Peter and his aunt over in the far corner, and the Bradleys quietly talking with Captain Rogers over by the desk with the fancy holograms. "Anyone want coffee? Or hot chocolate?"

"Coffee sounds wonderful," Mom said.

She got up, but then Billy said, "Wait."

Because he was going to have to show them his powers eventually – might as well doing it in the most harmless, useful way imaginable.

He still wasn't completely sure how his telekinesis worked, the exact nature of his limits. But he'd had some opportunity to build up his finesse while in HYDRA captivity – it was about all they were willing to risk letting him practice.

He wasn't manipulating objects so much as manipulating space, matter, particles. He was pretty sure there was some freaky electron shenanigans involved. And he was quite possibly breaking the laws of quantum physics.

But just as Agent Romanoff was reaching out for it, the coffee pot lifted up in the air, and started floating over to Billy, Mom, and Dad.

Both his parents gasped, as did Eli's grandparents and Peter's aunt. Captain Rogers, Thor, and Ms. Potts seemed amused, while Agent Barton, Mr. Stark, and Dr. Banner were gaping at the floating pot.

Agent Romanoff mostly seemed indignant about the pot just escaping her grasp. 

Billy reached out with his hand, imagining the vector of travel that he wanted the coffee pot to come to him on, and nudged it – not quite pushing, since he didn't want the coffee to actually spill. His hands were glowing, that almost fire-like energy output that confounded the HYDRA scientists to no end, and for some reason freaked out the higher-ups the one time they'd come to check in on their captive science experiments.

Eventually, he made the coffee-pot land on the counter-top between Mom and Dad, who were staring between his hands, his eyes, and the pot.

"I'm not sure I'd call that an upside to, uh, everything," Billy said. "But it's…something?"

Mom was still staring, while Dad slowly nodded.

"Okay," he said, patting Billy's shoulder almost absently. "You are definitely going to be helping me clean out the gutters from now on."

Billy couldn't help it. It was stupid, and he hated that kind of chore, but-

God, Billy had heard the stories of kids who go through multiple foster homes a year straight through til adulthood. He used to be grateful that he and Tommy only had four families, and then finally settled down with Mom and Dad and had been with them for over five years, now.

But those four families had left their mark. Some small part of him had been sure that he and Tommy would have to go right back into the foster system – or worse, now.

His parents just saw him move something with nothing more than his mind, and his dad's first response was to make plans for them to use it together.

"C-can…" Mom took a deep breath, and shut her eyes. "This will take some getting used to, but I will get used to this." She turned. "Can you get us some mugs?"

"And send the coffee back when you're done!" Romanoff called out.

Laughing, Billy raised his hand and pulled up two mugs, still stacked on top of each other. Billy moved them faster, since there was nothing in them, yet, to spill. They split apart, and the mug he was focusing less on fell towards the carpet. Someone gasped – Eli's grandmother, most likely – but Billy caught it just a few inches off the carpet. Bringing up his other hand, he made both of them move on mirror paths, until they hovered in front of his parents. Mom and Dad reached for the handles, and as soon as Billy saw they had a grip on the mugs, he let go. They both jerked a little, unused to the motion, but neither one dropped anything.

"…huh," Dad said, turning the mug over to inspect it – then reaching for the pot.

"Please don't ask me to pour it," Billy muttered. "I think I'll work my way up to that."

Mom smiled, and leaned over to kiss his cheek.

"We'll practice together," she promised. "Maybe I can finally teach you how to knit."

Five minutes later, Billy was still laughing at the mental image of himself knitting with his powers. He was laughing so hard, it actually took him a moment to realize Tommy had come back from the bathroom.

As soon as he did, Mom and Dad noticed, too.

Sidling over like a nervous deer, Tommy eyed the coffee pot and the mugs, looking between Billy, Mom, and Dad.

Mom took a deep breath, then opened her arms wide.

"Tommy," she entreated. "May I have a hug?"

For the first time, Billy could see what she meant. Tommy seemed to relax when Mom made it look like _she_ needed the hug instead of him. When Tommy let her embrace him, his arms came up around her back and wrapped up towards her shoulders, like he was protecting her.

It was a gesture borne of habit – from protecting Billy.

Tommy would let Mom give him all the hugs in the world that he needed, as long as he felt like he was giving her something in return.

Stepping back, Tommy looked between Mom, Dad, and Billy again.

"Are we…okay?" he asked.

"We're getting there," Mom answered, refusing to let go of Tommy's hand.

"But we'll get there together," Dad said. With a smile, he said, "Billy was just showing us his…powers. He got us the coffee and the mugs." He smiled, looking over at Billy. "How about some cream and sugar to go with it?"

Billy opened his mouth, Tommy said, "I'll get it."

Then he seemed to just…flicker. He popped out of existence from in front of them, and almost instantly reappeared right beside them – holding a dozen sugar packets over the top of the little ceramic cream pitcher, a few drops of cream spilling over the edge from the momentum.

Over at the coffee table, the sugar packet holder was suddenly a lot emptier, and the cream pitcher was gone. Barton's hand hovered right over the spot it had just been in.

"Oh, come on!" Barton cried out, while Romanoff fell over laughing at him.

Tommy smiled hesitantly, and Mom and Dad grinned back at him.

"Thank you, sweetie," Mom said, reaching over to relieve Tommy of the cream and sugars. She passed them over to Dad, then held out her hand to Tommy, who took it. She tugged him closer and went up on her tip-toes to press a gentle kiss to his forehead. "And I'm not just talking about the coffee condiments."

Tommy shut his eyes, and nodded. For the first time since Billy had been taken by HYDRA, he felt like the warmth in his chest could blossom into something as bright as the sun.

He could get used to feeling like this.


	5. Cassie

As Billy and Tommy continued to show off with their powers, JARVIS chimed in. "Miss Lang? Your family is arriving."

"It's Ms.," Cassie corrected. "And – who…?"

"Your mother, your step-father, and your father," JARVIS said.

Cassie blinked in surprise. "I will admit, I was not expecting that."

"You didn't expect them to come?" Teddy asked.

"No, I did," Cassie said, standing up and staring at her shaking hands. "Just…not together."

She paced a little, over the windows that Peter and his aunt just left behind. "Paxton's a cop and Dad's a con," she continued, as Teddy, Rikki, Jonas, and Kate looked on in concern. "They can't stand each other. I'm surprised they didn't strangle each other on the way from San Francisco."

"They appear to be mutually concerned for you, Ms. Lang," JARVIS said.

Before Cassie could ask what the hell that meant, she heard the ding of the elevator doors opening behind her, and turned on the spot to face them.

It was becoming routine – the Avengers, the Young Avengers, and their families all looked to the elevator doors as they opened.

Mom was the first one out, and she didn't even notice anyone else in the room.

" _Cassie!_ " she cried out. She literally dropped her purse as she ran to Cassie, and Cassie didn't even care that she was crying as she opened her arms and Mom ran right into them.

"Hey, Mom," she murmured into her mom's ear. "Long time, no see?"

Mom sobbed into her hair, and with a gentling hum, Paxton wrapped an arm around Cassie's shoulders.

"It's good to see you, sweetie," he said, the understatement spoken with a thick voice.

Cassie looked over to see Dad looking at her…and waiting.

"Dad?" she asked. She stepped out of her mom and Paxton's hug, turning on the spot to look at him.

"Do you want to see him?" Mom asked. "Because if you don't-"

" _Mom_?" Cassie asked. She looked between the three of them. "Did something happen when I was gone? Why _wouldn't_ I want to see him?"

She was looking at Mom and Paxton, but it was Dad who answered, "Because it was my fault you were taken."

Cassie stared incredulously at him, then Paxton, then Mom.

She didn't know why she was surprised. They hadn't changed in the ten years since the divorce – why should Cassie have expected anything in the mere months since her kidnapping?

"How was it his fault that HYDRA kidnapped me?" she demanded.

Dad's shoulders slumped in relief. Somehow, that was the moment when Cassie realized how tense he had been.

God, Mom and Paxton have been spouting so much bullshit for a decade – but Dad had never been bothered by it, before.

Cassie held out her arms, because they both needed the hug, right now.

At least neither Mom nor Paxton tried to stop him.

(Cassie tried not to think about how easy it was for her to hook her chin over her Dad's shoulder as she hugged him. She'd had to almost go up on her toes the last time she saw him in order to do that. Now, her feet were both firmly planted on the ground, and it had nothing to do with her new powers and everything to do with how long she'd been gone.)

As she hugged him, she glared at Mom and Pax, though she also blinked in surprise when they flinched.

Whoops – she could guess why. She'd spent so long glaring at HYDRA doctors…

"I told you," Dad said. He sounded like he was trying not to cry – but also like he was wearing that _"I'm pretending that I'm trying not to gloat_ " face he normally only had around Paxton, when they thought Cassie wasn't looking. "She'd know it wasn't my fault-"

"Like hell!" Paxton snapped. "You're the reason she was even in SHIELD that day-"

"You'd never had a problem with that before," Dad said, voice tight as he pulled away from Cassie to glare at Paxton dead-on.

Cassie felt cold without someone hugging her.

"You were even happy," Dad continued, crossing his arms. "That I had a 'respectable' job after prison, that I could finally be a good role-model for Cassie-"

"Um," Cassie tried to start. "That doesn't-"

"Yeah, because continuing criminal activity was something we wanted Cassie to see you doing," Mom said, also crossing her arms. Cassie wondered how no one noticed that Mom and Dad posed exactly the same, that they mirrored each other when they got like this.

"You're probably the reason she thought the Rising Tide had the right idea," Paxton sneered.

"I'm right here!" Cassie said.

Why was she surprised that they all ignored her?

"You didn't seem to mind my hacking skills when I was using them to look for Cassie!" Dad snapped. "And hey, guess what, looks like out of all of us, I was the one who got closest to-"

"That didn't get her back!" Mom snapped. "And nearly got you back into jail again, which is where you'd be, now if-"

"Hey!" Cassie shouted – her voice deeper than it had ever been before.

Because she grew.

Her skin and muscles all spread and _grew_ , her height doubling and her mass quadrupling, the space in her lungs growing and growing with her.

(She hated how natural HYDRA made this for her – but it's not like ignoring her powers would undo them, or make her forget the last nine months of hell.)

Cassie was too frustrated to be too weirded out by the fact her parents only came up to her hip when she did this. Her own head brushing against the ceiling, and voice louder and deeper than she could ever manage on her own, she snapped at all three of them, "I'm right here!"

They stared at her, eyes wide and Dad's jaw dropped.

They stared up at her, but all Cassie cared about right now was that she finally had their attention.

"It's not Dad's fault!" Cassie said. "Do you think anyone would've let me into SHIELD if they'd thought there was even the slightest chance of danger? We were in a computer lab, where I'd been visiting Dad at work for years!"

There was silence in the penthouse.

Cassie realized that it wasn't just her parents' attention she'd caught by doubling her size – it was everyone's.

She smiled sheepishly at the others as she shrunk back down to her normal size. "Uh, sorry guys."

Kate raised an amused eyebrow, Peter and Teddy were snickering, and Eli, Rikki, and the twins shot her an awkward wave as behind them, Jonas seemed to be fiddling with the drink tray.

Peter's aunt, Billy and Tommy's parents, and Eli's grandparents were all gaping at her.

Cassie ignored them, focusing on her own family.

Dad swallowed, as Mom and Paxton stared at her with eyes shocked wide.

"I'm sorry, sweetie," Dad said.

"Us, too," Mom said, gesturing towards Paxton and herself. She was still looking between the top of Cassie's head, and the spot a few feet up where it had been just a moment before.

Cassie nodded gratefully.

For a moment, they just…stood there. All four of them were well aware that there was no way to talk about the matters at hand without her three parents degenerating into incessant arguing. Without that, though, there seemed to be nothing to talk about.

"Hey," Dad said, smiling shyly. He glanced at Mom and Paxton, before focusing on her. "I, uh, I just got a new job, actually. Not a good one – kind of crappy, actually. But it's something."

"Cool," Cassie said, with a wan smile. She remembered how tough it had been for Dad to find a job after he'd last gotten out of prison, and couldn't imagine how much worse it would be, now. "Where at?"

"Baskin Robbins," he said, rolling his eyes playfully. "Just a server, but like I said, it's something."

Paxton looked ready to comment, and Cassie knew that way lay madness.

"Do you get a discount on ice-cream?" she asked, cutting in before Mom or Paxton could.

Dad smiled at her. "Yup." His smile grew into a grin. "Come by and get your favorite flavor, all the toppings you want."

Paxton glared at him. "Really? After everything that happened the last time she visited you at work and the first thing you do is invite her to your work _again_?"

"Oh, come on, you think a terrorist organization is going to hide out in an ice-cream parlor?" Dad snapped. "After everything she's been through, I think she could use some extra ice-cream."

"You think _extra dessert_ is going to fix all this?" Mom demanded, gesturing from Cassie's head and upward – probably meaning her instantaneous growth spurt a few moments before.

Dad opened his mouth, but from behind herself, Cassie heard, "Is everything okay?"

She turned to see Jonas lurking there, holding out a steaming mug. Cassie smelled chocolate.

"I-" Jonas smiled, projecting an awkward tilt to it. "Brought hot chocolate?" He tipped his head slightly, a tick that seemed to indicate some search or heavy thought process working through his computer of a brain. "A warm beverage after traumatic experiences is associated with mitigation of shock and post-traumatic stress symptoms."

Cassie smiled. His robotic affection was adorable.

"Thank you," she said. She smiled at Jonas, taking the hot chocolate and watching him walk back to where Teddy and Rikki were lurking over the coffee table.

She turned back, only to frown at how Dad and Paxton were staring suspiciously after Jonas.

"…you've still got a gun, right?" Dad asked Paxton, sidelong.

"Yup," Paxton answered.

"Dad!" Cassie protested. "Paxton!"

"We're just trying to look out for you, sweetie," Paxton said.

"You haven't been all that interested in boys, before," Mom chimed in, scrabbling desperately for normalcy.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Cassie demanded. "And anyway, he's just a friend. Besides, he's already been shot half a dozen times, this weekend. We had to go to Tennessee to get him repaired."

"Tennessee?" Paxton asked.

" _Repaired?!_ " Dad asked.

"He doesn't look like anyone from the pictures of you kids in Albuquerque," Mom added.

Cassie sighed, and took a sip of her hot chocolate to brace herself.

"Iron Lad," she answered. "He's an android. What you're seeing right now is a type of synthetic…skin, in a way. Well, a synthetic outer layer he projects skin and clothing on, and stuff. It's a disguise."

"So he's a robot?" Mom asked, unsubtly looking over Cassie's shoulder at Jonas.

Cassie kept herself from rolling her eyes, and nodded.

"…I think this might be more up your alley than mine," Paxton muttered at Dad.

"Yup," he agreed.

Cassie facepalmed. Why in the hell did she have to have two dads?

Well, at least they weren't fighting each other, anymore.


	6. Rikki (America)

Kate, Rikki, and Teddy were arguing about best coffee practices when Director Coulson came up to them.

Kate didn't miss that most of his attention was currently directed at Rikki.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Chavez," Coulson said. He looked like he genuinely regretted what he was about to say. "We contacted your grandfather, but-"

"He's not coming?" Rikki finished for him. Coulson nodded. "Told you."

"He's really not coming?" Kate asked, surprised.

Rikki snorted. "Hell, no. Not after I told him to go fuck himself and walked out on him. He thinks my mom betrayed him by settling down with another woman. And that makes me a traitor to him because I loved them and missed them and preferred the streets to his homophobic ass."

Kate's face softened in second-hand regret. Meanwhile, Teddy winced in a way that made Rikki think there really _was_ something to the way he looked at Billy, and it wasn't just her imagination.

"Well," Coulson said. "That does leave us in an awkward position, as far as what we can do to help you."

"Emancipation?" Kate offered.

"Maybe," Coulson said, looking between them both. "But an emancipated minor is still a minor. Either way, in most states, you have to be at least sixteen to get emancipated, which you aren't yet." He took a deep breath, glancing down at his tablet without seeming to see anything on it. "Even if it's only on paper, your life and ours would be a lot easier if you just have a guardian until you're eighteen."

Rikki scowled. "So I have to spend the next quarter decade under someone's thumb no matter what?"

Coulson opened his mouth, but it was Captain America's voice that said, "Not if it's me."

All three of them turned to see Rogers awkwardly looming by them.

"On paper, I'm a pretty respectable sort," Rogers said. "But in all honesty, I'm not exactly… I don't say here much, and at this point, Stark Tower is the closest thing to a home I have. So that should tell you a lot about what my life is like, right now."

Rikki stared at him, not hiding her disbelief.

"That could actually work."

Now, she turned to gape at Kate. " _Qué mierda?!_ " she blurted out.

"Adopted by Captain America and living in Stark Tower?" Kate asked, waving her uninjured arm towards the general everywhere else direction of the penthouse. "Any judge that isn't politically biased would sign off in a heartbeat."

"I hate to say this," Director Coulson said. He sounded so pained, and Rikki wasn't sure if it was because of the idea, itself, or because it was Kate saying it. "But she has a point."

"I won't keep you, uh, under my thumb," Steve said. With a shrug, he added, "I'm not around enough for that."

"What are you usually doing?" Rikki asked. "You guys don't go out that much."

Rogers nodded. "You heard about the Winter Soldier?"

Rikki nodded. "One of the last things I saw on a newspaper before HYDRA kidnapped me. He's your sidekick from WWII, right?"

Rogers' smile twisted grimly. "Not my sidekick – my sergeant." He paused, then seemed to take a mental step back, even shifting his weight back.

"He doesn't seem like a man that wants to be found," Teddy said.

"He isn't," Rogers agreed. "But he needs to be."

"Let me guess," Rikki drawled. "For his own good?"

"He has HYDRA, the United Nations, and every other world government out for his blood," Rogers said, face and posture tense, but voice even. "They want his ass on the line for war crimes he's not responsible for. Damn right bringing him somewhere safe, for his own good."

Rikki narrowed her eyes at him, thinking of Rogers' conversation with Eli, and his promise to the Bradleys to make up for the racist bullshit that he never committed, but had still benefited from. She thought of all the propaganda she'd grown up with – just like everyone else – of him being a hero, him being always honest and righteous and everything people were supposed be, but never were.

Except it was starting to look like he was.

Maybe.

She'd withhold judgment, for now.

"Fine," Rikki said.

Director Coulson smiled. "Good," he pronounced. "I'll get started on the paperwork. We'll get this done as soon as possible, before anyone else can try to take you away."

For once, keeping her somewhere sounded like protection instead of prison. Watching Coulson walk away, Rikki didn't know what to do with that feeling.

So she did nothing, packing them away in her heart to turn her attention back to her friends.

Especially Kate, who has a mischievous grin on her face. "This is the most appropriate arrangement, anyway," she said, her expression going sly as she looked at Rikki. "Given your first name."

Rikki immediately glared at her.

"Don't you dare," she said, her anger probably betrayed by her smile.

It was kind of funny. Embarrassing, but funny.

"What's her first name?" Rogers asked in confusion.

"Princess," Rikki warned her. "Don't you-"

"America!" Kate said with a grin. "America Chavez!"

Rogers blinked in surprise, Rikki glared, and Thor, Romanoff, and Barton looked like they were about to break something from not laughing.

Then, with a sigh, Rogers said, "I can see why you prefer the nickname," he said. He held out a hand. "Welcome to the club?"

Rikki snorted, but agreed to shake his hand. Maybe something good could come of this mess, after all.

"Where did your sid- sergeant get his nickname from?" Rikki asked. "I don't get how you get 'Bucky' from 'James'."

"His full name is James Buchanan Barnes," Steve said. "There were a lot of James' and Jimmies in our school. 'Bucky' grew out of Buchanan, though I'll admit I'm not completely sure how." With an impish smile, he said, "Even for me, it was a long time ago." Tilting his head, he asked, "How do you get 'Rikki' from 'America'?"

Rikki shrugged. "America, Ame _rica_ , Rica, Rikki," she listed off, out of years of habit. "Dealing with my real name was bullshit, so I needed a new name, but I didn't want to completely drop the name my moms gave me, y'know?"

A slow smile spread across Rogers' face. "Bucky said the same thing. I think you two will get along, once we find him."

Rikki found herself looking forward to something for the first time in over a year.

"Need some help finding him?" she asked. "It doesn't look like I'll be doing anything."

Rogers at least gave her the courtesy of thinking about it, before shaking his head. "No," he said. "Just focus on finishing school, okay?"

"After all this," Rikki said, gesturing between herself and the rest of her team. "And you just want me to go back to school?"

"I want you to finish school no matter what," Rogers said. "So that when you're an adult, you're not reliant on me or us for help. So that no matter what, you can make your own way in the world, even if SHIELD can't or won't help you." He swallowed. "I hope we're not still looking by the time you're done, but if we are – then, yeah, I'll definitely need your help."

Rikki slowly smiled, and nodded.

"Get a G.E.D.," Kate stage-whispered from the couch. "Just test out of high-school!"

Steve rolled his eyes. "There's more to school than school, especially these days." Looking between them, he said, "Things like…I dunno, prom? Isn't that a big deal, these days? You shouldn't be missing out on that."

"I was always gonna miss out on that," Rikki said, with a shrug. "I ain't rich enough for prom."

Kate snorts, adding, "And I'm _too_ rich for it – I already go to parties way better than prom on a regular basis, anyway." She reached out and grabbed Rikki's hand. "I'll take you, sometime."

Rogers face-palmed. "Just…I don't want you to grow up any faster than you've already had to, Rikki."

Rolling her eyes, Rikki said, "I think it's a little too late for that."

This time, Rogers' smile looked sad, but he did nod at her. "Maybe. But it's still worth trying."

"I'll think about it," Rikki deflected. Kate's idea sounded a lot better than Rogers', anyway. And hell, she was from California. Kids tested out of high school after tenth grade, all the time. With Kate's help, she could do the same.

Rogers gestured to the large couch Kate was perched on, opposite of Rikki and Teddy. "May I join you?" he asked her. Kate shrugged, and Rogers dropped onto the cushions with a muffled groan.

Captain America always seemed so invincible to Rikki. It startled her to realize he was probably just as exhausted as she was.

And not just him, either. Thor came over with a smile on his face, but also asking, "¿Va todo bien?"

Rogers smiled, nodding at Thor. "Yeah – we'll be okay." Kate and Teddy nodded their agreement, as did Rikki – privately doubting that all of them knew Spanish.

One day, she was going to figure out how the hell Thor did that. In the mean time, she looked up at Thor and gestured to Kate's other side on the couch. "Tome asiento," she invited. Thor grinned as he eased himself onto the couch, while Teddy and Kate stared between them in bewilderment. Only Rogers – Steve, she should start calling him Steve – seemed unsurprised.

"Am I going to have to live here?" Rikki asked them in English, cautious. "I've…only ever lived in L.A."

"No problem," Kate cut-in, a wicked looking grin on her face. "I've lived in New York all my life, I'll show you around."

With a soft smile, Rogers added, "I can show around some, too."

"I think the city's changed a bit since you were our age," Teddy said, a friendly smile belying the challenge.

Rogers shrugged. "I did some exploring since I came out of the ice."

Rikki snorted at that. "Sure. You guys can all show me around." With a smirk, she added, "I've never even been on a subway before, maybe one of you can show me."

Rogers grinned, while Kate looked scandalized. Thor and Teddy snickered at the looks on their faces.

For a few moments, a spot of quiet settled between all of them. It started out okay, but tensed a bit quickly.

"I do not get the purpose of this couch's position," Rogers finally said, casting around for conversation. "The view is one of the best things about this place, why have a couch that faces away from the city?"

With a slow smile, Rikki got up and came around behind them. Steve watched her but not saying anything.

The couch – a big, classic, leather-and-wood affair – was already pretty heavy-looking. Kate, Steve, and Thor all sitting on it certainly didn't help.

But they weren't enough to make Rikki do more than huff as she pulled it back away from the table, then single-handedly rotated the couch so it was facing the big windows again.

Steve was laughing by the end of it, Thor murmured a quiet and genuine, "Gracias," and Kate patted the space between herself and Steve. Rikki gestured Teddy over as she vaulted over their heads to land in front of them.

"Show off," Teddy muttered, perching on the arm of the couch beside Thor. Rikki grinned as she fell into her new seat.

"So, Cap, Princess," Rikki asked, leaning back. "Where are you guys going to take me, first?"


	7. Teddy

Watching Rikki chat with Kate and Captain Rogers, Teddy was struck with a mental punch in the gut.

Even if Rikki's grandpa wasn't coming, he was still called. She had someone to be called.

Teddy…didn't.

With a few deep breaths to work up his nerve while staying calm, he got up from the couch and walked over to Stark and Banner. They were lurking by the other end of the bar from the Kaplans.

Mr. Stark smiled as he looked up from his tablet on the counter. "Baby Bear!" he called out cheerfully, waving a crystal glass.

Dr. Banner side-eyed Stark with exasperation, rolled his eyes, then also greeted him. "Hey, Teddy," he said, with his awkward calm that Teddy was starting to realize was his normal speaking voice. "What's up?"

Teddy looked over to Rikki and Kate, scanned over the families scattered across the penthouse, the looked back at Bruce.

"What's…what's going to happen to me?" Teddy asked. "I mean…Rikki is getting re-adopted and everyone else is going back to their families or whatever…but what about me? My parents were both only children, and all my grand-parents are dead. I don't-" He swallowed, and tried not to hyperventilate. "I don't have any family left."

The amusement slipped from Stark's face, and Dr. Banner's expression grew solemn.

"Well, we have plenty of space, here," Mr. Stark said.

Teddy nodded. "And on paper?" He looked at Dr. Banner. "You're the only other Hulk in the world…"

He trailed off at the sad smile on Dr. Banner's face.

"Teddy, I still struggle with the Hulk," he said. "And – I slip up. I'd like to think that our common ground is a good reason, but a lot of people are only going to see what a massive risk I am as a…as a parent. Even an adopted one."

"Besides," Mr. Stark added, his glass clinking against the marble counter as he set it down by his tablet. "Brucie-Bear, here, is pretty damn hard on himself and the Hulk. I'd hate to see that extended to you."

Dr. Banned glared. "Excuse you?" he demanded, sounding kind of offended. "I'm a hardass for a reason, Tony. People get hurt when people like us lose our tempers. We can't all afford to live as out-of-control as you do!"

"Out of control?" Mr. Stark asked. Shaking his head. "I'm starting to think I should take him to protect him from you. You'd probably try and turn the Hulk containment unit into his bedroom-"

"-which he might need to be safe!" Dr. Banner cried out. "Even from you!"

Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner were facing off, looking ready for a fight, and Teddy started to back away, desperate to escape the situation.

"We'll take him."

Teddy froze, eyes wide, and turned around slowly.

Mrs. Kaplan stood there. Her head only came up to Teddy's chest, and she looked less than half his weight, if she were soaking wet. But her jaw was set, like she'd fight the Avengers.

Fight them for Teddy.

"We're already trained in how take care of a traumatized teenager," her husband added, standing behind his wife.

Dr. Banner, Mr. Stark, Agents Barton and Romanoff, Captain Rogers, and Thor all looked at each other hesitantly.

"Thank you," Dr. Banner said. "But – he needs to stay somewhere that has Hulk containment options nearby. Even __I__ rarely travel, or travel away for long, and I've had years to practice my control."

The Kaplans looked at each other. Whatever it was they silently communicated via eyebrows and hand-squeezes, it only made them look more determined.

"Even if it's only…'on paper'," Mrs. Kaplan said, glancing over to the couch where Rikki, Kate, and Captain Rogers were. "We understand that your job is to think of the public welfare. But Teddy needs someone to think of __his__ well-being, and we're ready to be that someone."

Teddy stared, stunned. He tried to say something, but he couldn't get any words past the lump in his throat.

"If he needs to stay here, or wherever you stay," Mr. Kaplan continued. "So be it – but we'll make sure that wherever he is, he's taken care of."

Bruce slowly nodded. "I have a few places-"

"And I have an idea."

Everyone looked over to Mr. Stark.

"I'm already working on…well, I guess you could call it a 'portable' system for Bruce," Mr. Stark said. "I should be able to adapt it to Teddy, no problem."

Dr. Banner seemed irritated. "Tony, that isn't even a prototype, yet-"

"'Yet' being the keyword here, Brucie-bear," Mr. Stark said, clapping Dr. Banner on the shoulders. He faced the Kaplans. "Granted, for now, he does have a point. Teddy needs to stay in close range of a Hulk containment unit at all times. Even if he's weaker than the Hulk-" He seemed to be saying that more to Dr. Banner than to the Kaplans. "-He's still, y'know, a bundle of angry hormones wrapped around a not-so-jolly green giant. But honestly, if you have a basement, I can just modify that into a Hulk-sulk room."

"A 'Hulk-sulk' room?" Teddy couldn't help but ask.

Dr. Banner rolled his eyes. "It's Tony's name for the various cells in various locations kept to contain…the Other Guy."

"Look, we'll do what we have to," Mrs. Kaplan cut in. "But we're not leaving this boy undefended. We're not leaving __any__ of these kids undefended!"

"Even if it's only on paper," Mr. Kaplan continued. "If that paper will protect him, if it's the only thing standing between you and him, we'll damn well sign it."

"…you really think you can leave him here, and protect him from Hartford?" Mr. Stark asked. He didn't seem to be challenging them, though.

But he did have a point. Yet instead of acknowledging the point, Mrs. Kaplan jut her chin up.

"These children have been abused, kidnapped, and tortured, Mr. Stark," she said, crossing her arms. "We know Billy and Tommy are going to need help, and they're not the only ones. We'll move if we have to, we'll hide these boys if we have to – we'll do anything we have to, because that's what we're supposed to do. That's what parents are supposed to do."

Teddy's jaw dropped.

"…Teddy?" Mr. Kaplan asked, concerned. "Are you okay?"

With a swallowed, Teddy asked, "You'd…you'd move? Just for me?"

"There's no 'just' for you, or for anyone," Mrs. Kaplan said, with a pointed glare at Dr. Bruce.

"But – Tommy, and Billy…"

He looked over to the twins, who were looking at each other, and shrugged.

"It's not like I'd never see my friends again if we did move," Billy pointed out, perched on his barstool. "And – Hartford kinda sucks, anyway."

"It's not like we grew up __there__ ," Tommy said with a snort, leaning back against the bar.

Teddy just stared back and forth between all the Kaplans – all four of them – incredulously.

Mr. Kaplan opened his arms wide. "Teddy?" he asked. "May I have a hug?"

Teddy choked on air. "I know what you're doing," he said around the lump in his throat.

Mr. Kaplan shrugged, and dropped his arms. "If that makes you uncomfortable, that's okay."

He sounded like he was reciting that out of some psychotherapy manual – hell, he probably was.

"N-no," Teddy said. "I could…I could use one, too."

With a big grin, Mr. Kaplan stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Teddy, who enjoyed this while it lasted, because-

Because-

"My mom was HYDRA," Teddy blurted out. Mr. Kaplan stiffened, but didn't pull away. Mrs. Kaplan just looked alarmed.

"What?" she asked, open-ended as possible. Of course.

"She-" Teddy shut his eyes. "My mom was a SHIELD agent, I __knew__ that. My dad had been a pilot, and got killed on a mission when I was little. But last year, when the Triskelion collapsed, she just grabbed me and we became fugitives. She was protecting me from HYDRA – but she only knew to do that because she'd been one of them."

He took a deep breath and stepped away from Mr. Kaplan, to look him in the eye. "So helping me is helping the son of a HYDRA agent."

Mr. Kaplan pursed his lips. "Helping you is helping a HYDRA victim," he answered.

Teddy looked between Billy and Tommy's parents.

"…even if I miss her?" he asked quietly.

With wet eyes, Mrs. Kaplan reached around her husband to take hold of Teddy's hand. "Sweetie – it's okay. People are complicated, and so are our feelings."

The lump in Teddy's throat was growing, as Mrs. Kaplan kept going.

"You can disagree with someone and still love them," she declared.

"She…she…she was my mom," Teddy choked out. "She couldn't be – she was a good person! She was! I don't get…get how…"

Mrs. Kaplan didn't even wait to ask, this time. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Teddy, one small hand bracing his large back, the other reaching up to cradle his head.

"You can hate one part of a person while still loving the rest of them," she soothed. "She was your mom, first and foremost. You can miss your mom, no matter what your feelings for the HYDRA agent was."

He wanted to bury his face in her shoulder, and so of course he pulled back.

"I love her," he confessed.

"Then you love her," Mrs. Kaplan said, dropping her arms and taking a step back – one hand up, as if she were ready to hold his if he needed it. "That doesn't mean you're a bad person for it."

"I miss her," he admitted.

Mrs. Kaplan smiled sadly. "I know, sweetheart. And that's okay. I'm not trying to be a new mom for you. It sounds like she was just trying to look out for you. I'm only trying to do the same. If that means admitting I have something in common with a HYDRA agent? So be it."

Teddy sobbed.

His throat felt like there was a rock in it and his vision was blurry and his face was wet and the world didn't make sense anymore.

There was a sudden…tension, in everyone around him.

In front of him, Mr. and Mrs. Kaplan were staring at him, especially his face-

His eyes.

Before Teddy could get a good look at their faces, though, Billy was pouncing on him, wrapping his arms around Teddy's shoulders.

"Teddy," Billy said. "Cry yourself out all you want, but you can't let yourself lose control, okay?"

Without even asking, Teddy knew what color his eyes were, right now – and they definitely weren't their natural brown.

Shutting his eyes, hiding them – and himself – away from the world, Teddy turned and buried his face in the curve of Billy's neck, returning the embrace.

"Do they mean it?" he asked, not bothering to lower his face. "Do they-"

"Yes, you numb-nut, of course they mean it," Billy said. He pulled away a bit, and Teddy opened his eyes.

The way Billy looked at him, he had no idea what the hell color his eyes, were right now.

"They aren't your mom," Billy said. "They won't betray you, or betray anyone else to help you."

Teddy swallowed, closing his eyes for a moment and leaning forward, nodding against Billy's shoulder.

Off to the side, he heard Mr. Kaplan say, "We might need to institute a new rule about them keeping their doors open…"

Billy jerked, but didn't step away from his and Teddy's embrace. "Dad!" he cried out, indignant, while Tommy started laughing – followed by the rest of the team.

Teddy wasn't sure what color his eyes were, anymore – but right now, he didn't care.

He didn't have to.


	8. Jonas

Jonas did not want to intrude on the emotional moment between Teddy and the Kaplan family. No one did – Peter and his Aunt came towards the couches, with Mrs. Parker sitting in the arm chair and Peter perching on its back. The Bradleys just moved closer to Tony's desk, away from the Kaplans and everyone else. Meanwhile, Cassie and her family were receding closer to the windows, away from everyone else.

Jonas kept his distance, analyzing the Kaplans' words, and the entire team's current circumstances.

Cognizant of Natasha and Clint beside him, he asked out loud, "Father? What would it take to move everyone into the tower?"

Clint snorted, and Natasha rolled her eyes with affection. "Typical," she muttered.

Jonas shaped his countenance into that of a confused frown. When his expression was not enough to cajole her to elaborate, he added, "What is typical?"

"You're doing the same thing Tony does," Natasha said, waving around the tower. "He basically kidnapped all of us into this tower to protect us."

Now, Jonas' frown morphed into one of concern. "Do you not want to be here?"

"It's not about wanting or not wanting, kid," Clint said, eyeing the coffee-pot that was still over on the bar by the Kaplans. "It's that this was the best place for us to be, right now."

"But that doesn't mean it'll be the best place for your new friends," Natasha added. "Besides – only the Kaplans looked ready to move. The rest of them want to go home."

"That's the problem," Jonas said. "Their homes are insecure and far away!"

"Mayhap, not for long."

Jonas turned around to see an amused Thor pushing himself off the couch. Kate and Rikki glanced at him, but didn't say anything, while the Parkers eyed the entire conversation warily.

"What do you mean?" Jonas asked.

It was Steve who answered, "We're opening up a new facility out West."

Jonas cocked his head, and this time, his expression was enough for Steve.

"We used Tony's tower as an Avengers base of operations," Steve elaborated. "But we were only doing so as a stop-gap, a temporary measure while a more permanent facility was being prepared. We're using one of Stark's old storage facilities."

Jonas frowned, and looked up, using his direct connection instead of bothering with a facial expression or words.

Father sent him the data in kind, but also voiced a summary outloud – likely for the benefit of everyone around them. "The warehouse which Howard Stark used to contain old personal projects and defunct SHIELD prototypes," he said. "He built it in 1988, expecting to spend quite a bit of time filling it, and that Sir would continue to do so. However, he was killed less than three years after its completion. Sir preferred a far less centralized method of storage, and places far closer to him. The facility has been empty and gone largely unused for the last two decades."

"No one looks twice at it," Steve said. "Nice and remote – hard to get to. Easy to see anyone coming via all methods of transportation, for miles around."

"Nevada has many barren environs," Thor explained, with a bland smile.

Jonas examined the maps and schematics in his head.

"But that just puts me _closer_ to them, not actually _with_ everyone," he concluded. "And so many of them are still here…"

"Well," Kate said. Jonas looked over to see her smiling slyly at Rikki. "If I show you around New York, that means you have to show me around Los Angeles, right?"

Rikki snorted. "Sure, Princess. I'll give you a grand tour of all the 'hoods."

Kate nodded in satisfaction. "Good," she said, either not realizing or blithely ignoring Rikki's sarcastic drawl.

Okay, so the Kaplans were willing to move and bring Teddy with them. A Nevada base put him closer to Cassie's home in San Francisco, and wherever around Los Angeles Kate and Rikki were willing to be. It also left him much closer to Eli's home in Topeka, Kansas. Which just left…

He looked over to Peter, who immediately shook his head.

"I am not moving," he declared, crossing his arms. "Listen, I love you guys and all, but I'm a shitty team player-"

"Language!" Mrs. Parker snapped, swatting at Peter knee.

"Sorry, Aunt May," Peter mumbled, blushing a little. Then he turned back to Jonas. "Like, I'm happy to team up with you guys when you need me and all, but I just got into this to help out people on the street. I'm not interested in becoming the kind of superhero that hunts down terrorists and battles alien threats and stuff."

Jonas sighed. "But – how am I supposed to protect you?"

"You don't," Peter said. "If I need your help, I'll call. But _I'm_ going to protect me – me and Aunt May."

Did Peter mean that he was going to protect the both of them, or that the both of them were going to protect him?

Did it even matter?

Frowning, Jonas turned his attention back to Kate and Rikki.

Kate seemed to immediately catch onto his concerns. "I'm thinking of just getting my GED to be done with high school," she said. "Then I'll move out to L.A. Away from my dad and all his bullshit."

"If you take your time, you can crash in my new pad."

Everyone turned around to see Tony walking over, having left Bruce to negotiate with the Kaplans on what to do about Teddy.

"Your new place?"

"Well, old-new," Tony didn't elaborate. "My Malibu manor's almost done being rebuilt."

Rikki grinned. "Hell of a sweeter place than I was thinking of," she said. She looked at Kate. "Though I've never been there."

"Malibu?"

"The entire western half of Los Angeles," she said. At Kate's incredulous look, she shrugged. "Los Angeles is a big city. It's like a giant pancake."

Here, Kate smirked at Peter. "Just as well you're staying here. I've seen pictures of L.A. There aren't nearly enough sky-scrapers there for you to get around with."

"Though he might be able to fly-along with the helicopters," Rikki said, with a grin.

"Excuse you?" Peter said with mock indignation.

As the rest of the team devolved into playful banter, Jonas' pressure sensors indicated a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Tony standing behind him, a sad smile on his face.

"You'll never be able to protect everyone," he said, voice low enough that only Jonas could hear. "Not completely."

"I have to try," Jonas responded. Instead of challenging him, Tony grinned.

"You're growing up even faster than I thought you would," he said.

"You do not sound happy about that," Jonas reported.

Tony snorted. "I'm not- It's complicated." Jonas cocked his head – an affection he picked up from Dummy – but did not say anything. "Part of me is proud that you're adapting, learning, and growing so quickly," Tony elaborated. "The other half of me is sad to see it, because of the reasons for it."

Jonas nodded once.

Tony spent a few moments thinking, nodded to himself, and gestured for Jonas to follow him. Hesitant, Jonas obliged.

"Before, uh, the Air Base," Tony said. "You'd been making such good progress that JARVIS and I – well. We got in touch with a lady who specializes in synthetic bodies – Helen Cho, you remember her e-mails? – and, well…"

He opened up a holographic file.

Jonas did not express surprise in human conventions. His jaw did not drop, nor did his eyes widen. Instead, they glowed in his shock when Tony projected the schematics of a hypothetical biosynthetic body over his desk.

"Is that…" Jonas reached up, moving the projection around. Around him, he noticed the room quieted as his friends and their families turned their attention to this. "Is this for me?"

"Yes," Father answered. "Or it had been, at any rate, until you demonstrated that you are not even close to ready-"

"What?!" Jonas objected. "After everything I did this weekend? I teamed up with multiple independent agents, I rescued a team of underage superheroes, I-"

"Didn't tell any of us a word of this," Father grumbled. "And generally conducted yourself in one of the most irrational ways possible for this situation.

Tony laughed. "Which, arguably, is pretty good evidence that you're learning about what it means to be human."

"Unfortunately," Father grumbled over the speakers.

Shaking his head ruefully, Tony said, "Look, this is a long way off, but that's a good thing. It gives you more time to learn."

Jonas opened his mouth, and Tony added, "Besides, I can tell you from personal experience that growing up faster than everyone else around you is no fun."

It took a few moments of looking between the hologram, and his friends, to understand this.

The hologram wasn't just a _new_ body, it was an _adult_ body – one that he didn't want to move into, not while his friends would have to remain so much younger than him.

"…I can wait," Jonas finally agreed. "Better to get it after all the bugs have been worked out."

Tony nearly fell over laughing at that.

"What's that?"

Jonas turned around to see Kate leaning over the back of her couch to ask him.

"One day, me!" Jonas answered. At his teammates' looks of confusion, Jonas explained, "I'm going to upgrade into that. Eventually."

"…upgrade?" Mrs. Parker asked, confused. "Do you mean put your brain in it?"

Jonas realized that she had no idea what he really was.

With a sharp gesture towards himself, he dropped the inverse-hologram projection on his paradermal layer. Mrs. Parker's eyes widened, he heard a gasp from Eli's grandparents, Cassie's mother seemed to choke on air. Interestingly, the Kaplans were only mildly surprised. Jonas figured he paled in comparison to Billy, Tommy, and Teddy.

"I'm an android," Jonas explained to Mrs. Parker. "My current body is a proto-type. It will likely be quite a while, but I will eventually upgrade." He smiled. "I believe the term is, 'growing up'."

Peter snorted, Kate gave him a thumbs up, Rikki grinned, Eli rolled his eyes, Teddy and the twins looked speculative, and Cassie looked delighted.

Though that look faded when she looked at her fathers.

They were staring at him in shock. Jonas ran every facial expression recognition algorithm he had, and still could not understand the looks on their faces. Unsure of what to do, he opted to follow a benign, default gesture – he raised a hand and waved.

"…definitely up your alley," her step-father said.

"No kidding," her father said.

"DAD!" Cassie cried out, and Jonas lurched back in shock at her outburst. "PAXTON!"

"Kidding, kidding!" her father said, an unsure smile on his face.

"I'm not," her step-father said.

Cassie crossed her arms and glared at them, while her mother started laughing behind her.

"I have no idea what is happening," Jonas admitted to Tony.

Tony laughed, and clapped his hand on Jonas' shoulder, a gesture he knew was associated with paternal familial affection.

"Don't worry," he said. "I doubt they know, either."

Jonas looked unsurely between his own adoptive grand-father, Cassie's actual fathers, and all the other family members of his teammates spread out across the penthouse. Most of them looked exasperated by the scene before them.

Shaking his head, Jonas finally gave up on trying to understand. "Humans are so _weird_."

But that was why he loved them.


	9. Tommy (The Team)

Tommy was still doing his best to look uninterested in everything when the AI voice – Jonas' _dad_ , and wasn't that a weird thought – said, "Sir, the caterers have finished."

Mr. Stark grinned, and clapped his hands, sharp and cheerful.

"Lunch time!" he yelled out into the penthouse. Then he looked outside and said, "Or is this brunch?"

"It's _food_ ," Tommy declared, to which Mr. Stark burst out laughing.

Calming down, Mr. Stark looked over to Jonas. "You gonna be okay, kid?"

Jonas nodded, a smile on his face. Tommy wasn't sure if the usual rules of expressions applied to robots, but by human standards, that smile looked real.

It was a friendly but chaotic bustle, since the dining room was on the other side of this floor. Why they couldn't just eat in _here_ -

-became evident as soon as they walked into a lavishly minimalist dining room overlooking the other half of Manhattan.

"What the fuck?" he muttered.

The table was huge – multiple tables pushed together, if the clusters of legs under the table-cloth were anything to go by. On it lay the most 'brunch' food Tommy had ever seen in his life – at least, outside of a grocery store. The middle of the table was covered in platters of sausages, pancakes, waffles, bacon, toast, and half a dozen other things Tommy couldn't even see between the little towers of condiments between them. There were pitchers of juices, coffees, and what looked like tea, scattered among bowls of fruits.

"I hope this is enough," Mr. Stark said. "But if it isn't, there should be more in the kitchen."

Everyone stared at him, realizing one by one that he was serious.

Tommy was the one who laughed.

He didn't even know why it was funny. His ears filled with more and more laughter, first of his teammates, then their families. Tommy looked up to see Mr. Stark's indignant face, and that set him off all over again, and his sides ached with it.

This time, yesterday, they were on their way from Tennessee to Albuquerque, to invade another HYDRA strong-hold and rescue two super-heroes from their clutches.

Now, they were here.

Their lives were ridiculous.

He saw Agent Barton attempting to console Mr. Stark – or maybe just explain what it was they were laughing at, in which case Tommy wished him luck. He was only still upright because he was holding onto the back of a chair, and his sides ached with the force of his laughter.

It was a good ache.

The grown-ups started filtering through the room, claiming groups of chairs while still chuckling.

Tommy looked back to see the team.

Kate and Rikki leaned against Eli, Billy and Teddy were nearly falling over together, Jonas grinned as he all but held Cassie up…

As embarrassing as it was to admit, they were his team. Ugh, was this was friendship was like? Feeling happy just to see them happy?

It was so… _mushy_. Nice, but mushy.

Packing his laughter under a smirk, Tommy waved his hand towards the table.

"C'mon," he said. "Let's eat. Whoever gets a stomach-ache first is a loser!"

"Are not!" Kate – the most likely candidate – protested immediately.

Tommy rolled his eyes, looping an arm over her shoulders and practically dragging her towards the table. "Are too," he said, grinning.

He didn't even know what the hell they were going to be doing tonight, letalone the rest of their lives. He had no idea what his and Billy's future held, or what was going to happen to all of them. But for the first time in his life, he didn't worry – he didn't have to care.

For the first time in his life, Tommy couldn't wait to see what happened next.


	10. Stinger: Pietro (and Wanda)

Pietro took a deep breath as he passed through the main computer bank. He smiled towards the HYDRA workers, but kept to himself, like the scared lab-rat he needed them to believe he was. He held onto the mockery of a picnic basket, breathing carefully so his hands didn't shake as he walked to the staircase in the back.

Most of them knew damn well that he and Wanda had only just earned their freedom to move around the castle – and neither of them were eager to risk it. But, a man could bring his sister lunch, and even HYDRA wouldn't think twice about it.

He prayed no one looked closely at the newspaper he had tucked into the basket.

It took several flights of stairs, but he found his sister in the small lounge outside their 'quarters', which were really prison cells with the doors unlocked. She was focused on the pen and paper on the table in front of her – practicing dexterity with her powers. She was getting better…though she still had a long way to go. The things she wrote by controlling the pen still looked like they were written by a child.

"Wanda," he called out. Aware of the guards just by the door, he kept his voice light as he walked up to her. "Picnic on the terrace?"

She had a bemused eyebrow already raised as she turned around to face him, but her countenance froze when she saw his terrified eyes.

However, they hadn't gotten this far in life by being stupid. She played along, saying, "Is that allowed, yet?"

Pietro made a show of glancing at the guards, then looking back at her. "I guess we'll find out. We'll eat by the windows if not."

While the guards made a pointed note of them going outside, no one actually stopped them.

The terrace was more like a large balcony, centuries old stone railings with a slim bench underneath parts of it. It was on this bench that he lay down the plastic basket of dumplings – and the newspaper underneath it.

He asked her about how her telekinetic writing was going, in his usual volume, glancing at the guards. She caught on and started an excited retelling of her developments, and annoyed ranting at her frustrations. This went on long enough that the guards seemed to start tuning them out. As she seemed to "calm down", they didn't start paying attention again. Pietro started some idle chit-chat about the local gossip. Even in HYDRA, people slept with those they shouldn't, and everyone knew about it.

As soon as they were quiet enough that they couldn't possibly be overheard, yet loud enough that the guards weren't concerned, Pietro asked, "Do you remember your children?"

Wanda stared at him, stunned. "From when _we_ were still children?"

"Yes," he said. "The ones you had to give up."

He still remembered the night he had, in a stroke of idiocy, left his sister alone with the American doctor who'd paid orphans to be test subjects for his vaccine study. One night, when she couldn't make it back to the orphanage in time, but he could. One night, when he thought his sister would be safe in a doctor's office while he made sure they weren't noticed missing at the orphanage. One night was all it took for a monster to take advantage of his sister.

Making sure the orphanage didn't notice they were missing at night meant nothing once they noticed she was pregnant.

They'd become vagrants, then lab-rats again, then fugitives. The Night Nurse, the one and only good person in SHIELD, had been both a blessing and a curse. A curse, for Wanda was never able to find her children after giving them up to the safety of an American adoption agency. A blessing, because neither would HYDRA.

Or so he'd thought, until this morning.

"The ones we lost?" she murmured. They hadn't talked of her long-lost children in years. If the children had survived, they'd be older now than Wanda was when she gave birth to them.

Of course, it was no longer an 'if'.

Not saying a word, he casually unfolded his newspaper. Flipping through the pages and glancing at the guards, he made a loud remark about looking forward to the day he could go to see a game in person again. He turned to the international section, to the pictures.

He knew what he looked like when he was running, what Wanda looked like when she used her powers.

The two American teenagers whose bodies glowed like his own and Wanda's. Only their eyes were visible behind their masks. But even in a picture as blurry and distant as this one, there was no mistaking them.

He remembered little of his childhood, but he remembered his mother's eyes. They were staring back at him from the newspaper picture, taken across the world.

Wanda choked down her gasp as she stared, seeing what he did. Pietro explained, anyway.

"They're alive."

**Author's Note:**

> Good or bad, please let me know what you think! Concrit is ♥.
> 
> Please make sure to check out the [wonderful art](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8588614) for this story. Paleogymnast captured the kids so beautifully in every banner, they really deserve all the kudos, comments, and fandom love (especially given how terribly I'd dropped the ball in meeting the deadlines for this challenge).


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